President Klaus Iohannis moved to reassure Romanians on Friday about fears of a looming conflict in neighboring Ukraine ahead of a phone call with U.S. President Joe Biden about the situation.
Military buildup
Mr Biden will hold a 1600 GMT, 6 p.m call with transatlantic leaders to discuss Russia’s ongoing military buildup around Ukraine, the White House said.
On the call will be the leaders of Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania, Britain and NATO, the White House said, Reuters reported.
Romanian shares a 615-kilometer frontier with Ukraine and also borders the Black Sea where Russian warships are staging exercises.
NATO’s top official said Friday there was a risk of ”armed conflict in Europe” as more U.S. troops arrived at a Romanian military airbase on the Black Sea.
Armed conflict
„There is a real risk, a big risk of armed conflict in Europe. There is a risk of a full-fledged invasion and also other kinds of aggressive actions from Russia,” said NATO Secretary-General Jen Stoltenberg on a visit to the Romanian base.
Seeking to scale down tensions during a joint press conference, Iohannis said: “I want to be very explicit and clear. Romania is very well defended and has all the security guarantees (it needs),” he said during a joint press conference with the NATO chief.
Jens Stoltenberg repeated that a missile shield at a base in southwest Romania “has a defensive role” and the military organization which has 30 members is “a defensive alliance.” Moscow claims it could be used to launch missiles against Russia.
Russia has amassed 130 ,000 troops on Ukraine’s borders. Russia insists it doesn’t plan to invade the country, but there is growing unease about the situation.
Security
The Romanian president however said that “no Romanian should be afraid. But we should know where our security comes from, and what guarantees we have.”
“Firstly, our armed forces have come upgraded a lot in recent years. They are well prepared for any scenario. Moreover, Romania is in the NATO alliance (which is) the strongest alliance which has ever existed in history.”
Look who has come to support is.us..these soldiers who we welcomed today at the Mihail Kogălniceanu base. There are others from strategic partners in the alliance who will work with Romanian troops,” he said.
Defensive alliance
“It is clear that NATO is a purely defensive alliance. We don’t want to attack anyone, we don’t want to invade anyone. We just want to guarantee the security of our states and our citizens. “
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